Socorro is a town and municipality in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia. It was founded in 1681 by José de Archila and José Díaz Sarmiento.The town was very influential in the history of Colombia. There began the revolt of the Comuneros of 1781 against the oppression of Spanish rule.

The origin of the population was much more prosaic and simple. Broadly it can be argued that formed beside the road leading from Velez to Giron, the exact site where today is located. Jose de Archila and José Díaz Sarmiento, wealthy landowners chanchona Valley, donated the land to the Virgen de Nuestra Senora del Socorro, to set the village on 16 June 1683. Blas García Cabrera, influential and neighboring potentate representing many settlers, requested the erection of the parish to the metropolitan curia Santa Fe, with such good fortune, that the Archbishop Antonio Sanz Lozano Auto created it by November 27 Next, under the name of “Nuestra Senora del Socorro” and 2 December, the president, governor and captain general of New Granada, Francisco del Castillo de la Concha civilly approved the new administrative section.

At the request of Captain Francisco Arias of Toledo and numerous neighbors, after four decades of constant progress of population, chairman Archbishop Francisco de Cossio and Otero granted the title of city in 1771, which changed the name to "City of Our Lady Cossio Socorro and Otero, whose officials took office on Aug. 15. However, as such grace, not filled the legal requirements, ie they were granted by the King of Spain, Felipe V objected and overruled on December 30, 1712.

Perhaps the origin of "Very Noble and Loyal Villa", to which King III of Spain with this honorable designation lifted on 25 October 1771, granting further coat of arms on 25 April 1773, which is Marine exaltation, for the Mother of God, under the title Our Lady of Mercy, has presided over all the events of the years of Vila today.

In 1795 King Charles IV created the capital province of Socorro with the same name, in territory more than half of the current department of Santander, which remained in force until 13 May 1857, when Congress established the State of Santander, which later became king. Socorro sporadically served as capital and property since 14 September 1861 by the Constituent Assembly Act until 24 March 1886, when Dr. Antonio Roldan pro executive decree, the moved to Bucaramanga.

Socorro in the Revolution broke the Communards on 16 March 1781. Arciniegas states: "In New Granada the independence war, began to germinate in Distress" and is absolutely right, for the excessive taxes, socorran people revolted against colonial authorities in the revolution of the commoners, the only social upheaval in the annals named captains, generals as his chiefs, that is, chose a plural executive, which means that democracy was born here, the right of citizens to elect and be elected. Here also originated the army, clad in sisal-soled sandals, trousers, blanket, linen shirt and hat of bamboo, because Don Juan Generalissimo Francisco Barbee official appointed upper and lower, sergeants, corporals and the full range of levels that existed and exist in the military, the villagers were betrayed, Galan, Molina and Manuel Ortiz Manosalvas and Alcantuz paid with his life the perennial desire to be free men. But the seed of freedom remained dormant. Again the Socorrans, headed by Dr. Jose Lorenzo Silver and Martinez gave the dish with the colonial regime on 10 July 1810.[1]

Socorro has a total land area of 12,210 hectares, it is located at the southwest of Santander Department with 6 ° 28'40 "north latitude and 72 ° 16'17" west longitude, its coordinates are X = 1.200 000 Y = 1,214,000 to 1,084,000 to 1,100,000. By car, Socorro is located 6 hours from the capital of the Republic and 121 km (2.30 h) from the Capital Department.

Farm building in Socorro in the outer rural part of the town.

Its boundaries are north to the town of Cabrera and Pinchote the south by the Socorro Confines and Palms on the east with Paramo on the west with Simacota and Palmar.

However, due to the needs of the population, these regions have been affected by logging and burning of native forests for the establishment of farming in unsuitable areas, or for operation in annual crops with the consequent danger of promoting to keep soil erosion, unprotected natural vegetation, so it's reforestation few programs do not consider the native vegetation to preserve the species by altering the native flora.

The steep slopes prevent the use of heavy farm machinery, by tillage implements and utensils rudimentary and smaller tools.

The vast majority of the area which sits the Socorro corresponds to the weather that occurs in pre-montane humid forest (1,200 to 2,000 m) and tropical dry forest (900 to 1,200 masl).

One of the main factors determining the climate of the municipality is its elevation, being located in a mountainous slope, his lands are distributed in warm and temperate climatic zones, being most of the land in production between 1,000 and 1,800 m above sea level.

The temperature reaches 28 ° C and minimum 17 ° C, with an average of 24 ° C, rainfall is enhanced during the months of April and October, while the season between the months of January and March is the most dry.[2]

1.
Colombia
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Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a transcontinental country largely situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. Colombia shares a border to the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and to the south with Ecuador and it shares its maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is a unitary, constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments, the territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Muisca, the Quimbaya and the Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada, independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 the Gran Colombia Federation was dissolved. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada, the new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation, and then the United States of Colombia, before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886. Since the 1960s the country has suffered from an asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict, Colombia is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries in the world, and thereby possesses a rich cultural heritage. Cultural diversity has also influenced by Colombias varied geography. The urban centres are located in the highlands of the Andes mountains. Colombian territory also encompasses Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines, ecologically, it is one of the worlds 17 megadiverse countries, and the most densely biodiverse of these per square kilometer. Colombia is a power and a regional actor with the fourth-largest economy in Latin America, is part of the CIVETS group of six leading emerging markets and is an accessing member to the OECD. Colombia has an economy with macroeconomic stability and favorable growth prospects in the long run. The name Colombia is derived from the last name of Christopher Columbus and it was conceived by the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda as a reference to all the New World, but especially to those portions under Spanish and Portuguese rule. The name was adopted by the Republic of Colombia of 1819. When Venezuela, Ecuador and Cundinamarca came to exist as independent states, New Granada officially changed its name in 1858 to the Granadine Confederation. In 1863 the name was changed, this time to United States of Colombia. To refer to country, the Colombian government uses the terms Colombia. Owing to its location, the present territory of Colombia was a corridor of early human migration from Mesoamerica, the oldest archaeological finds are from the Pubenza and El Totumo sites in the Magdalena Valley 100 km southwest of Bogotá. These sites date from the Paleoindian period, at Puerto Hormiga and other sites, traces from the Archaic Period have been found

2.
Departments of Colombia
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Colombia is a unitary republic formed by thirty-two departments and a Capital District. Each department has a Governor and a Department Assembly, elected by popular vote for a four-year period, the governor cannot be re-elected in consecutive periods. Departments are country subdivisions and are granted a degree of autonomy. Departments are formed by a grouping of municipalities, Municipal government is headed by mayor and administered by a Municipal Council, both of which are elected for four-year periods. Each one of the departments of Colombia in the map below links to a corresponding article, current governors serving four-year terms from 2015 to 2019 are also shown, along with their respective political party or coalition. Estimate for Cundinamarca includes the capital, Bogotá. The indigenous territories are at the level of administrative division in Colombia. Indigenous territories are created by agreement between the government and indigenous communities, also indigenous territories may achieve local autonomy if they meet the requirements of the law. Article 329 of the 1991 constitution recognizes the collective ownership of indigenous territories. Decree 2164 of 1995 interprets Law 160 of 1994, providing, among other things, indigenous territories in Colombia are mostly in the departments of Amazonas, Cauca, La Guajira, Guaviare and Vaupés. When it was first established in 1819, República de la Gran Colombia had three departments, in 1824 the Distrito del Centro was divided into five departments, and further divided into seventeen provices. One department, Istmo Department, consisting of two later became Panama. With the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1826 by the Revolution of the Morrocoyes, in 1832 the provinces of Vélez and Barbacoas were created, and in 1835 those of Buenaventura and Pasto were added. In 1843 those of Cauca, Mompós and Túquerres were created, at this time the cantons and parish districts were created, which provided the basis for the present-day municipalities. However, the new constitution of 1853 introduced federalism, which lead to the consolidation of provinces into states,1861 saw the creation of the final federal state of Tolima. The Colombian Constitution of 1886 converted the states of Colombia into departments, with the state presidents renamed as governors

3.
Santander Department
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Santander is a department of Colombia. Santander inherited the name of one of the nine states of the United States of Colombia. Its capital is the city of Bucaramanga, prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, the territory now known as Santander was inhabited by Amerindian ethnic groups, Muisca, Chitareros, Laches, Yariguí, Opón, Carare and Guanes. Their political and social structure was based on cacicazgos, a federation of tribes led by a cacique and their main activity was planting maize, beans, yuca, arracacha, cotton, agave, tobacco, tomato, pineapple, guava, among others. Their agricultural skills were developed to take advantage of the different mountainous terrains. The Guanes utilized terraces and a system of irrigation. They had a knowledge of arts and crafts based on ovens to produce ceramics and they had cotton to make clothing and accessories such as hats and bags. Spanish conqueror Antonio de Lebrija led the first expedition through the area in 1529, the area was later invaded c.1532 by German Ambrosius Ehinger in a quest to find El Dorado. This disrupted or destroyed many of the Amerindian villages, some ethnic groups like the Yariguíes, Opones, and Carares fought the conquerors until they became extinct. Explorer Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada later went to the area in an effort to appease the tribes, once the Amerindian tribes were dominated, the Spanish organized the territory based on Cabildos to maintain the dominance and administer justice in the conquered territory. Amerindians were enslaved and forced to work in agriculture, manufacturing goods and these two villages functioned as centers for the Cabildos territories. In 1636 the Cabildo of Vélez was transferred to a new jurisdiction centered on the village of Girón, with an area which went from the Sogamoso River, the village of San Gil was created in 1689, segregated from the Jurisdiction of Vélez. In 1789 the village of Socorro was also segregated from Vélez and they were all put under the mandate of the Province of Tunja, a subdivision of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. On July 9,1795 the corregimiento of Vélez – San Gil – Socorro was created due to the unsustainability of the Province of Tunja, and local government was established in the village of Socorro. Santander cuisine, referred to as santandereas, includes regional specialties and food from the Departments capital city of Bucaramanga and other cities such as Cepita

4.
Colombian Conservative Party
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The Colombian Conservative Party is a traditional political party in Colombia. The party was established in 1849 by Mariano Ospina Rodríguez. The Conservative party along with the Colombian Liberal Party dominated the Colombian political scene from the end of the 19th century until 2002, currently, the Conservative Party is the second largest political force in the congress. It is part of the coalition of Juan Manuel Santos and supported the government of Álvaro Uribe since 2002. Lawyer José Ignacio de Márquez was elected president of Colombia in 1837, during his government, tensions between civil politicians and generals of the Independence War grew into the first civil war Colombia faced, Marquezs side was called Liberales ministeriales. After the war, known as the War of the Supremes, Alcántara created a new constitution, with conservative and centralist characteristics. Mariano Ospina Rodríguez was a prominent member of his government, he supported the return of the jesuits to the country, alcántaras administration preceded the government of General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera. Mosqueras supporters created the Liberal Party in 1848, in the newspaper La Civilización of October 4,1849, Ospina and Caro published the conservative program that became the ideological platform for the new party. In 1863 the Liberal party created a new constitution in the city of Rionegro which was opposed by the Conservative Party, the country went to an unstable period of economic decay and multiple short civil wars between states and parties. In 1876 the independent liberal politician Rafael Núñez was defeated by the liberal candidate Aquileo Parra. Núñez was in favor of reforming the state and the federal system and he was candidate of the Liberal party to the presidency in 1880 and won the election, despite many leaders of his own party opposed him. In 1884, he was reelected with the support of the Conservative Party, the modern Republic of Colombia was founded with a centralized and protectionist government and an educative system managed by the Catholic Church. Following the events of the Regeneration, the Conservative Party kept the government of Colombia until 1930, during this period the country experienced economical resurrection and sold Panama to the United States. Although the country was peaceful, two violent episodes occurred in this period, the Thousand Days War and the Banana massacre. During the Hegemony, the Conservative Party created the Bank of the Republic, however the emergent working classes felt irritated with the conservative governments and began supporting the Liberal Party, winning the presidency with Enrique Olaya Herrera in 1930. Political violence reappeared during Ospinas term, finally taking Gaitán as a victim and he was murdered in Bogotá on April 9,1948. After his assassination began the period known as La Violencia in which members of the Liberal Party formed armed guerrillas. The Liberal Party boycotted the election of 1950, which were won by the radical conservative Laureano Gómez

5.
UTC-5
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UTC−05,00 is a time offset that subtracts five hours from Coordinated Universal Time. In North America, it is observed in the Eastern Time Zone during standard time, the western Caribbean uses it year round. The southwestern and northwestern portions of Indiana Mexico – Central Zone Central, in most of Mexico, daylight time starts a few weeks after the United States. Communities on the U. S. border that observe Central Time follow the U. S. daylight time schedule

6.
Hectare
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The hectare is an SI accepted metric system unit of area equal to 100 ares and primarily used in the measurement of land as a metric replacement for the imperial acre. An acre is about 0.405 hectare and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres, in 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1⁄100 km2. When the metric system was further rationalised in 1960, resulting in the International System of Units, the are was not included as a recognised unit. The hectare, however, remains as a non-SI unit accepted for use with the SI units, the metric system of measurement was first given a legal basis in 1795 by the French Revolutionary government. At the first meeting of the CGPM in 1889 when a new standard metre, manufactured by Johnson Matthey & Co of London was adopted, in 1960, when the metric system was updated as the International System of Units, the are did not receive international recognition. The units that were catalogued replicated the recommendations of the CGPM, many farmers, especially older ones, still use the acre for everyday calculations, and convert to hectares only for official paperwork. Farm fields can have long histories which are resistant to change, with names such as the six acre field stretching back hundreds of years. The names centiare, deciare, decare and hectare are derived by adding the standard metric prefixes to the base unit of area. The centiare is a synonym for one square metre, the deciare is ten square metres. The are is a unit of area, equal to 100 square metres and it was defined by older forms of the metric system, but is now outside of the modern International System of Units. It is commonly used to measure real estate, in particular in Indonesia, India, and in French-, Portuguese-, Slovakian-, Serbian-, Czech-, Polish-, Dutch-, in Russia and other former Soviet Union states, the are is called sotka. It is used to describe the size of suburban dacha or allotment garden plots or small city parks where the hectare would be too large, the decare is derived from deka, the prefix for 10 and are, and is equal to 10 ares or 1000 square metres. It is used in Norway and in the former Ottoman areas of the Middle East, the hectare, although not strictly a unit of SI, is the only named unit of area that is accepted for use within the SI. The United Kingdom, United States, Burma, and to some extent Canada instead use the acre, others, such as South Africa, published conversion factors which were to be used particularly when preparing consolidation diagrams by compilation. In many countries, metrication redefined or clarified existing measures in terms of metric units, non-SI units accepted for use with the International System of Units

7.
Metre
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The metre or meter, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units. The metre is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299792458 seconds, the metre was originally defined in 1793 as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole. In 1799, it was redefined in terms of a metre bar. In 1960, the metre was redefined in terms of a number of wavelengths of a certain emission line of krypton-86. In 1983, the current definition was adopted, the imperial inch is defined as 0.0254 metres. One metre is about 3 3⁄8 inches longer than a yard, Metre is the standard spelling of the metric unit for length in nearly all English-speaking nations except the United States and the Philippines, which use meter. Measuring devices are spelled -meter in all variants of English, the suffix -meter has the same Greek origin as the unit of length. This range of uses is found in Latin, French, English. Thus calls for measurement and moderation. In 1668 the English cleric and philosopher John Wilkins proposed in an essay a decimal-based unit of length, as a result of the French Revolution, the French Academy of Sciences charged a commission with determining a single scale for all measures. In 1668, Wilkins proposed using Christopher Wrens suggestion of defining the metre using a pendulum with a length which produced a half-period of one second, christiaan Huygens had observed that length to be 38 Rijnland inches or 39.26 English inches. This is the equivalent of what is now known to be 997 mm, no official action was taken regarding this suggestion. In the 18th century, there were two approaches to the definition of the unit of length. One favoured Wilkins approach, to define the metre in terms of the length of a pendulum which produced a half-period of one second. The other approach was to define the metre as one ten-millionth of the length of a quadrant along the Earths meridian, that is, the distance from the Equator to the North Pole. This means that the quadrant would have defined as exactly 10000000 metres at that time. To establish a universally accepted foundation for the definition of the metre, more measurements of this meridian were needed. This portion of the meridian, assumed to be the length as the Paris meridian, was to serve as the basis for the length of the half meridian connecting the North Pole with the Equator

8.
Industrial University of Santander
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The Industrial University of Santander, abbreviated in Spanish with the acronym UIS, is a public university system, based in a coeducational, and research model. The university serves the Santander Department, been the campus located in the city of Bucaramanga, Santander. The university also has campuses across the department in the cities of Barrancabermeja, Barbosa, Málaga, Piedecuesta. UIS is one of the most selective Colombian universities and have ranked as the top university in the North region of Colombia. The university was created by ordinance No.83 of June 22,1944, by the Departmental Assembly, and began its labors in March 1948. The university offers a number of degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with 124 academic programs, which includes 21 master,9 medical residency programs. The University was created by the municipal ordinance No.83 of the 22nd of June,1944, after the accomplishment of several legislative and administrative developments, the University officially began its educational function the 1st of March,1948 with 20 students. Initially only engineering degrees of Electronics, Mechanical and Chemical were offered, by the 70s, the University expanded its educative offerings to the engineering degree of systems, languages teaching, biology and Mathematics. Its main campus, known also as Campus Universitario Principal, is located in the northeast part of the city and hosts the faculties of Sciences, Engineering, and Humanities. It also possesses a second campus, which hosts the faculty of Health, and a known as the Sede Bucarica. UIS is ranked consistently as one of the best universities in Colombia, UIS is considered one of the best universities within the department. List of universities in Colombia Universidad Industrial de Santander official site FAVUIS UIS Foundation School

9.
Aguada, Santander
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Aguada is a town and municipality in the Vélez Province of the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia. Aguada is located in the vicinity of the Opón River at an altitude of 1,700 metres and it borders El Guacamayo in the north, San Benito in the south, Suaita in the east and La Paz in the west. The area of Aguada before the Spanish conquest was inhabited by the Yarigui people, in early 1537, the difficult expedition into the heart of Colombia led by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada passed through Aguada. Modern Aguada was founded in 1956, main source of income of Aguada is agriculture with products panela reed, maize, beans, yuca, coffee, peas and arracacha cultivated

10.
Barrancabermeja
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Barrancabermeja is a city in Colombia, located on the shore of the Magdalena River, in the western part of the department of Santander. It is home to the largest oil refinery in the country and is the capital of the Province of Mares, Barrancabermeja is known as the Oil Capital of Colombia. It is located 114 km west of Bucaramanga, on the banks of the Magdalena River in the Middle Magdalena region, which is the largest municipality and second in the entire department. Puerto Wilches lies to the north of Barrancabermeja, Puerto Parra and Simacota to the south, San Vicente de Chucuri and Giron to the southeast and it is 101 km from Bucaramanga, the capital of Santander. The city is situated on the banks of the Magdalena River, in the past a Ferry service would cross between Santander and Antioquia, on the opposite side, where further oil fields are found. A bridge now spans the river at this location, barrancabermejas culture has been largely affected by the migratory movements caused by the oil boom. The city exhibits an amalgam of many customs from Colombia. Due to its history as an oil town, the city is visited by moneyed foreigners, often engineers and supervisory employees. Thus Barrancabermeja has a reputation as an open and vibrant city, barrancabermejas night life includes Salsa and merengue dance clubs. The citys culture presents a strong Caribbean influence that nevertheless is not exclusive of other cultural expressions from among the variety found in Colombia, the predominant music in the city is vallenato and other Caribbean rhythms including papayera. Several local and national political organizations including unions, womens organizations, marches and demonstrations are quite common and the oil workers union is among the most important in the nation. In 1996 and 2000, Barrancabermeja hosted the Mundial de Patinaje, an international rollerblading competition

11.
Bucaramanga
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Bucaramanga is the capital city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate, the highest GINI index, Bucaramanga has over 160 parks scattered throughout the city and has been given the nickname La Ciudad de Los Parques and La Ciudad Bonita de Colombia. Bucaramanga has grown rapidly since the 1960s, mostly into neighboring locations within the metropolitan area, the city is the base of the Colombian Petroleum Institute, the research branch of the state oil company Ecopetrol and the Colombian Natural Gas Company. Girón was the first and most significant town founded by Spanish colonizers in the region, with the political reorganization of 1886 Bucaramanga replaced Socorro as departmental capital. The region was devastated by the war of 1899-1902 - commonly known as the Thousand Days War causing Bucaramanga to grow modestly in the first half of the 20th century. Bucaramanga is located on a plateau in the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes, westbound of it, the Rio de Oro Canyon is located at an altitude of 600 meters AMSL. Eastbound, the Andean Range rises up in high peaks, reaching almost 3, all four neighboring municipalities contain extensive rural areas despite recent urbanization. Under the Köppen climate classification, Bucaramanga features a tropical monsoon climate, the city falls just short of a tropical rainforest climate as its driest month, January, averages just under 60 mm of rainfall. Although its altitude is not considered high, Bucaramangas climate is not hot nor cold with 22 degrees Celsius being the average temperature. This fact makes the daily thermal oscillation to be narrower than other Colombian cities, the municipal flag of Bucaramanga was designed by the historian Gustavo Gomez Mejia. Made of two stripes with a yellow one in the middle. In the center theres a blue disk, surrounded with a red circle, in the middle of the blue disk theres a white star. In the red circle the following legend, Below the azure of its sky and defended by the blood of its sons. The words Montani Semper Liberi are Latin for Mountaineers are Always Free, according to the data obtained from the 2005 census and information provided by the Metropolitan Area of Bucaramanga, the city has an estimated population of 524,112 inhabitants. Of the total population,46. 8% are men and 53. 2% women, the average number of occupants per household is 3.6 people. 16. 6% of people of the population are aged 10 years, of all cohabiting couples in the city,46. 3% were single,26. 7% were married,5. 8% were separated and 4. 6% were widowed. 9. 2% of the population over age 4 who currently resides are from another municipality and 0. 3% from another country,6. 1% of the population has some permanent injunction. In the city,52. 4% of people live in houses, an industrial activity developed in Bucaramanga that has gained national recognition is the footwear industry

12.
Floridablanca, Santander
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Floridablanca is a municipality in the department of Santander. It is part of the area of Bucaramanga. Floridablanca is known for its parks and the Piedra del Sol and this city is home of the tallest statue of Jesus Christ in Colombia, El Santisimo. The statue is 33 metres high, first settlers, The actual territory was occupied by cacique Guane in the prehispanic era as Bucaramanga and Piedecuesta. Guanes used to inhabit the zone, but is improbable that there were important human centers because of the war zone, according to official DANE census, Floridablanca has 262165 inhabitants, being the second most populated city in Santander. 47, 37% are men, while 52, 63% are women,95, 6% of the population over 5 years know how to write and read, meaning, illiteracy rate is about 4, 4%. Colegio Santa Isabel de Hungría in Spanish La Quinta del Puente in Spanish Colegio Nuevo Cambridge in Spanish Floridablanca Municipal Website

Closeup of National Prototype Metre Bar No. 27, made in 1889 by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) and given to the United States, which served as the standard for defining all units of length in the US from 1893 to 1960